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GOLDEN - President Barack Obama asked for another term during a campaign appearance on Thursday, saying problems in the economy would take more than four years to correct.

"We've got so much work to do because there's still a lot of folks out there hurting," he said at a park in downtown Golden.

Outside the event, some 200 disappointed fans and curious neighbors were herded away from the packed event, which officials estimated had a crowd of about 8,400.

Michelle Gregory of Wheat Ridge has never heard the president before and was surprised that more tickets were given out than could fit in the park.

"When they said we couldn't go in, we asked, 'But we have a ticket?' They said they give out extra and people don't show up. Which I think is kind of weird, because an event like this, the president, people wouldn't do that, I don't think."

Another fan who didn't make it into the park, Scott Marvin of Arvada, said he couldn't sleep Wednesday night because he was so excited to see Obama. He was also shooed away from listening outside the speech, but didn't seem fazed by it.

"We're disappointed, but we understand," Marvin said.

Another Obama supporter who was twice told to leave the park said organizers should have set up a listening area for those not inside.

"I understand the security, but I wanted to hear him speak. I can't hear him from here," Golden resident Heidi Edson said.

Inside, Obama told the crowd he was the first sitting president since Ulysses Grant to visit Golden. The president mentioned this week's attack on the U.S. Embassy in Libya and vowed, "no act of terror will go unpunished." But he spent most of his speech talking about domestic policy and the economy.

"After a decade of war, it's time to do some nation-building right here," Obama said.

It was a return to the general campaign trail for Obama after four visits to college campuses.

"It was a little older crowd, so not quite as boisterous. But he did a good job," said Obama volunteer Gloria Stubbs of Golden, who also saw one of Obama's Colorado college trips.